Before the Storm
by Fran1993
Summary: This story follows the events of the initial Naruto series, as described by Satella Senju. OC insert.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello hello, and welcome to my first Naruto story. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Some things to note: I purposefully dont tell you what Satella looks like in this chapter as I dont think describing her makes sense in the story. After all, it is written from her point of view, and she already knows what she looks like. Instead I decided to describe her here. Satella has knee length blonde hair, vibrant red eyes and wears the usual Jonin outfit minus the green vest.**

 **There is also no pairing at the start of the story, but there will be one as the story progresses. In my story, Satella is 16 years old. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are 13.**

 **Now with that out of the way, let's get on with the story!**

* * *

Before the Storm

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Standing in front of a busy classroom of newly graduated Genin stood Satella Senju. Satella, the Jounin assigned to this class, took a seat on top of the teachers desk as she patiently awaited his arrival. Today they would be announcing the 3 man Genin squads everyone would be perfoming their missions with. It took the third Hokage quite a while to determine the ideal setups this year. Satella sighed as she read through the file in her hands. She didnt recognise most of the names in front of her, except for a few of them. The first being Sasuke Uchiha. The raven haired boy was one of the first to arrive that day. Satella had known him and his family for over a decade. The two of them grew up together. They even started living together after.. No. Now was not the time to be dwelling on the past. Satella turned her gaze back to the group of Genin in front of her. Not everyone had arrived yet. The ones the had were making quite the ruckus. Some of the girls were screaming at Naruto Uzumaki because of some silly jokes he made about them earlier. Naruto seemed to have a knack for pranking the other students. He also seemed to be intrested in Sasuke as for some reason he jumped up onto the table in front of him. Satella leaned her head to the side, trying to get a better view of the situation, but burst out into laughter at the sight in front of her. It seemed that one of the other students bumped into Naruto's back, causing him to fall forward into Sasuke's face. At this the girls in the classroom went ballistic and started pummeling poor Naruto for "stealing" Sasuke's first kiss. This was going to be an intresting day.

* * *

"Good day everyone. My name is Satella Senju. I will be announcing the Genin squads this year. These squads consist of 3 Genin each, with whom you shall be perfoming your missions. The difficulty of these missions wil be determined by your performance in the exams you have priorly completed. Each squad will be lead by a Juonin, and starting this year a medical ninja as well." This statement seemed to surprise the class. Satella couldnt blame them. Normally the squads would only be lead by a single Jonin, but because of the increase in Genin deaths over the years the Third Hokage installed the new policy.

"I will now announce the squads." The class's reactions to their team compositions ranged from excitement to extreme disapointment. Surely they didnt think they would be teamed up with their friends, did they? Satella absentmindedly continued reading off the names on her list until she reached Team 7. This was going to be her squad. Satella smirked. The third had certainly given her an intresting line up this year.

"Team 7: First up we have Naruto Uzumaki. Secondly Sakura Haruno." At this Naruto stood up from his seat and cheered. Satella chuckled at his enthuisiasm. "Behave yourself, Naruto." She said, causing Naruto to sit back down quickly.

"Last, but certainly not least, Sasuke Uchiha." This time it was Sakura jumping up in joy. "Next up, Team 8. Which will consist out of: Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame." Neither Team 8 nor 9 gave any real reaction to their team compositions. "Lastly we have Team 10: Ino Yamaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi." The infamous team Inoshikacho seemed to have a second itteration.

"Satella sensei, why have they teamed me up with a slug like Sasuke?!" Naruto yelled out as soon as Satella stopped talking. Satella raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms.

"Sasuke had the best scores out of all the graduated Genin this year. You on the other hand, had the lowest ones. For the sake of balancing the teams, the Third decided to group you up together. Now if u have a problem with that, you are welcome to complain about it as much as you like. Not that it changes anything." Satella chuckled at the defeated look on Naruto's face. For some reason he thought of himself as a top tier ninja. Maybe in time, he could be. But for now.. "After your lunch break you will be meeting up with your new Juonin teachers. Your team number will be displayed on the door of the classroom they wait you in. Until then, class dismissed."

* * *

During their lunch break both Satella and Kakashi Hatake, the other Juonin leader Team 7, where summoned by the Third Hokage. The three of them met up at Naruto's apartment where there third told them of Naruto's extrodinary background. It appears that during the attack on the village 13 years ago, the Nine Tailed Fox spirit was sealed inside Naruto. Not only that, Naruto also seemed to be the son of the Fourth Hokage. No wonder they kept it a secret.

"Good luck to the both of you. You'll need it." The Third said with a smirk on his face. Satella smiled nervously at this. Kakashi on the other hand seemed to be preoccupied with a carton of milk on top of the table. He examined it closely as he spoke.

"I certainly hope Naruto hasnt drunk any of this milk. Its way past its expiration date. One sip of this and you'd be running to the bathroom all day. It seems like this kid is just one big problem." Satella face palmed. Milk? That's what he was concerned with? This was the guy she was supossed to leading a squad with?

* * *

After their lunch break was over, Satella and Kakashi made their way over to the classroom. Because of their visit to Naruto's place, they were running a little late. As soon as they reached the classroom though, Kakashi was greeted with a chalkboard eraser on his head. Satella had to hold back her laughter as she entered the classroom after him. Surely this was Naruto's idea.

"Hahaha! I got him! He totally fell for it." Naruto yelled out. Sakura on the other hand seemed to be panicking.

"I'm so sorry, Sensei! I told him not to do it." Satella rolled her eyes at this. Way to stick up for your team mates. Sasuke, as per usual, remained silent. Satella walked up to him and sat down on top of the desk next to him. Kakashi sighed and finally spoke.

"How shall I put this.. My first impression of this group is: You're a bunch of idiots." Satella nearly fell off the desk. What was with this guy? That's no way for a Jonin to act.

"What Kakashi meant to say was, this group needs a lot of work." Satella stated quickly. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her.

"Isn't that what I just said?"

* * *

"All right. Why dont you introduce yourselves?" Satella said as soon as the group relocated outside. The three Genin sat on a bench in front of her and Kakashi, while the Juonin themselves leaned against a nearby railing. Kakashi didn't seem to be very intrested in getting to know the group, but Satella decided that for the sake of team building they had to start off somewhere.

"Introduce ourselves? What are we supposed to say?" Sakura asked.

"Things you like, things you hate." Kakashi stated. "Dream for the future, hobbies etc."

"Why dont you tell us about yourself first? So we can see how its supposed to work." Naruto suggested. Satella smiled at this.

"Thats actually a good suggestion. Why dont you go first, Kakashi?" Kakashi raised a finger to his face as he spoke.

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate.. Hmm.. I dont really feel like telling you that." Satella face palmed. This guy.. "My dreams for the future.. Well, I've never really thought about that." Atleast he was being honest about that. "My hobbies.. I have lots of hobbies." Satella squinted her eyes at him after he finished talking.

"Right.. That was very informative. Thank you." Satella said sarcastically.

"What about you, Satella Sensei?" Naruto asked her enthusiastically. Satella turned her gaze back to the group in front of her and smiled.

"Okay, sure. My name is Satella Senju. I like to train with Shuriken and I dislike paperwork. My dream for the future is to find out what happened to a missing friend of mine. My hobby is reading." This seemed to satisfy the group alot more then Kakashi's half hearted response.

"How old are you?" Naruto asked her, causing Sakura to smack him on the back of his head.

"You idiot! You're not supposed to ask a woman about her age! That's rude."

"I only wanted to know because she seems a little young to be a Jonin!" Naruto said in an attempt to redeem himself. Satella chuckled at the display in front of her. These guys were going to be a handfull.

"That's quite all right. I am 16 years old and I became a Jonin at age 11. Which is certainly nothing to write home about compared to some of the others out there." Naruto and Sakura seemed to be impressed by her statements. Sasuke on the other hand remained quiet. He already knew much more about Satella then he was letting on to the rest of the group.

"Okay. Now its your turn. You on the right, your up first." Kakashi said as he pointed towards Naruto.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it!" Naruto said happilly as he started playing with the headband on his forehead. "I like instant ramen in a cup, and I especially like the ramen at the Ichiruka ramen shop. But I do hate the 3 minutes you have to wait after you pour hot water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating diffrent kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my dream is to become the greatest Hokage to have ever lived! Then the villagers will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm someone important." Satella and Kakashi looked at eachother and sighed. Problem child indeed. Satella leaned back against the railing and pinched her nose.

"Right then. Next." At that Sakura stood up from her seat and happilly introduced herself.

"I'm Sakura Haruno! What I like.. Uhm I mean, the person i like.." Sakura turned her head slightly to look at Sasuka and quickly turned back with a squeel. "My hobby is.. Uhm.. and my dream for the future.." Sakura squeeled again and sat back down. Satella face palmed. This girl did even worse than Kakashi.

"And what do you hate?" Satella dared to ask.

"Naruto!" Kakashi sighed and leaned towards Satella's ear.

"Are girls this age really more interested in boys than in ninja training?" Satella shrugged.

"Seems like it."

"Okay.. How about you?" Kakashi asked Sasuke, who sat a bit further away then the other two. He leaned his elbows on his knees and held his chin up with his fists. Something Satella knew to be his default stance.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate alot of things and alot of people. And I dont particulary like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. Im going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone." Just as closed off as ever. Sasuke didnt want to let his team in on anything specific either. Satella cleared her throat and spoke.

"Good. Now that the introductions are out of the way, let me tell you about your first mission. Which is tommorrow at sunrise." Naruto jumped up in excitement.

"What kind of mission are we going to have?" He asked happily. Kakashi crossed his arms and spoke up.

"Its a task that the five of us will be doing together. A survival excersize." Both Sakura and Naruto seemed to be disapointed at this. Sakura stood up and held out her fist.

"A survival excersize? I thought we were supposed to go on a real mission. Not more practice. We already did that kind of stuff at the academy." Kakashi smirked.

"This is not like your previous training." Naruto raised an eyebrow at him and spoke.

"Sooo.. What kind of training is it then?" Kakashi and Satella looked at eachother and chuckled.

"Well, if we tell you the answer, you're not going to like it." Kakashi told them. Satella jumped down from her seat on the railing and spoke up.

"Out of the 27 graduates from the academy, only 9 will be accepted as Genin. The other 18 will be weeded out and send back to the academy."

"In other words.." Kakashi interjected. "..this is a make it or break it test. And the chance that you'll fail is atleast 66%." The three genin in front of Satella seemed to be surprised to say the least.

"See? I told you you wouldn't like it." Naruto stood up in anger and yelled out.

"That's crazy! We worked hard to get here! What was that graduation test good for anyway?!"

"Oh, that? That was just to select candidates who might become fully fledged Genin. That's how it is. Satella and I decide weither you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at 5 am. And bring your ninja gear."

"That's it. Class dismissed." Satella said as she turned to leave.

"Oh, one more thing." She said. "Skip breakfast."

"Why?!" Naruto asked her in bewilderment. Kakashi smirked at him and spoke. "If you don't, you'll puke."


	2. Chapter 2

Before the Storm

Chapter 2: The Survival Test

"Good morning everyone. Ready for your first day?" Kakashi said as he finally arrived at the meeting point. He was over an hour late! Satella and the others had been waiting in the field since sunrise.

"Kakashi Hatake, what kind of Juonin is late to his mission?" Satella asked him angrily.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way." Satella's eye twitched.

"What did I do to deserve this.." She whispered to herself.

"Let's get started." Kakashi said as he motioned for them to follow him. He walked over to a threestump and placed an alarm clock on top. "Here we go. It's set for noon." Kakashi said as Satella reached into her back pocket and pulled out two little bells on a small red ribbon. She handed the bells over to Kakashi who held them out in front of him.

"Your assigment is very simple. You'll just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it."

"If you can't get them before noon, you'll go without lunch." Satella said making the three Genin in front of her look at eachother in panic. Kakashi made his way over to the three identical poles to the left of him, and spoke.

"As punishment for your failure you will be tied to these poles, and forced to watch us eat lunch without you."

"Hold on." Sakura said. "There's 3 of us. How come there's only 2 bells?"

"That way at least two of you have the chance to eat lunch with us. However, one of you wil most definitly be tied up to a pole."

"You dont seriously expect us to go up against 2 Jonin?!" Naruto yelled out in panic. That boy sure loves his food. Satella chuckled at him and spoke up.

"You'll only be going up against Kakashi. I will observe your actions from a distance."

"Why do we have to fight Kakashi? Why not you?" Kakashi chuckled and spoke up.

"It wouldn't be a fair fight, given the fact that Satella can sense chakra." Sakura and Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. Sasuke on the other hand seemed to be quite relieved.

"The one tied up to the pole will be send back to the academy. However all three of you could flunk out together as well." Satella said as she sat down on top of one of the nearby poles.

"You can use any weapon you have at your disposal, including shuriken." Kakashi said as he tied the bells to his waistband. "If you're not prepared to kill me, you wont be able to take the bells."

"But those weapons are way too dangerous Sensei!" Sakura said, clearly worried about Kakashi's well being.

"HAH!" Naruto yelled out. "He couldn't even dodge an eraser. This is going to be easy!"

"Class clowns are nothing to worry about. They rank the lowest of the lowest." Kakashi said matter of factly, causing Naruto to get even more riled up then he already was. Satella sighed and decided to speak up before things went even further south.

"Take time to prepare a strategy. When I say start, we will begin."

* * *

"So, you could've warned me about the severity of this test." Sasuke said as he sat down on the pole next to Satella. She smiled and turned her head to face him.

"Were would the fun in that be?" She said jokingly. "By the way, shouldnt you be preparing your team strategy instead of talking to little old me?" Sasuke grunted.

"What team? The two of them are a bunch of idiots. They will only hold me back." Satella sighed. She was afraid this was going to happen. Ever since that fateful day three years ago, Sasuke had refused to let anybody into his life. The only person he ever really spoke to was her, and she was pretty sure that was only because they were living together.

"Well, if you cant trust your teammates to retreive some bells with you, then how are you supposed to trust them to keep you alive during your missions?" Sasuke smirked at her and stood up.

"As long as you're there with me that's all the help I'll need." With that said, he simply walked off.

* * *

As soon as the test began it became pretty clear to Satella what the teams main issue was. None of them were willing to work together with their other team mates. They also needed to get their priorities straight. Sakura seemed to be much more intrested in watching Sasuke than the actual mission at hand. Naruto was clearly overconfident and found himself overpowered by Kakashi many, many times. He was able to get close through the use of shadow clones once, however Kakashi substituted himself as a Naruto clone and was able to get away easily. And Sasuke, well.. Let's just say he refused to even look at his teammates. Which was a shame really. He could've learned from their mistakes. Sasuke however had been the only one able to touch one of the bells so far, before being punched away by Kakashi. So close yet so far.

Satella sighed and swung her leggs back and forth from the tree branch she was sitting on. She wondered if even a single one of them would be able to outsmart Kakashi. It would be a shame to lose the oppertunity to lead a squad, even if it was with Kakashi. Satella continued to watch the conflict in front of her until she spotted Naruto running away from Kakashi's training field. It seemed like he found their secret stash of food. Satella smirked and as soon as Naruto had gotten close enough, she jumped down from the three right in front of him.

"Hi there. What do you think you're doing?" Naruto jumped backwards out of surprise.

"I-I'm sorry, Sensei! I didn't mean to take your lunch, I swear! Believe it!" Satella smirked. She knew exactly how to punish him.

* * *

Time had run out, and as soon as the alarm clock went off the five of them gathered around the three poles. Naruto being tied up to the middle one.

"Congratulations, I have humbly decided not to send any of you back to the academy." Kakashi said with a smirk on his face.

"Really?!" Naruto yelled out in excitement.

"Yes." This caused both Sakura and Naruto to cheer in celebration.

"Instead all three of you will be dropped from the program. Permanently."

"Wait, what?" Naruto said in disbelief. "That means we can never become ninja's! You said that if we couldn't get the bells you would send us back to the academy. You can't just change your mind! Why would you do that?!" Satella crossed her arms and stepped forward.

"It's because you don't think like ninja's. You think it's all about you."

"You don't know what it means to be a ninja." Kakashi said sternly. "You think this is all some sort of game." Satella sighed and spoke up again.

"Why did you think you were placed in a squad? Certainly not to go at it on your own. None of you even considered the posibility of working together. What's even worse is that you haven't even determined what this excersize is all about."

"What it's all about?" Naruto asked. "The thing that determines weither you pass or fail." Sakura shook her head back and forth trying to come up with an answer.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that from the beginning." Satella sighed. "Use your head. Three people in a squad. Why do you think we would do that?" Naruto growled in anger.

"How are we supposed to know why you would do that?! We didn't make the rules!"

"It's about teamwork." Satella said plainly.

"Wait, that's what this is about? Teamwork?" Sakura asked them.

"Yes, exactly." Kakashi told her. "If all three of you came at me at the same time, you might have been able to take the bells. It's too late now though. This excersize is over."

"You set us up. You told us that if two of us got the bells, two of us could become Genin. That would lead to group conflict, causing the group to break up." Satella smiled at Sakura. Atleast someone got it.

"Exactly. This excersize purposely puts you up against eachother. We wanted to see if you could overcome that and put the squad ahead of yourselves. A Genin should have a natural feel for teamwork. But you.." Satella paused as she looked at the three Genin in front of her. "..working together never even crossed your mind."

"Sakura, you were so obsessed with finding Sasuke that you ignored Naruto who was right in front of you. You wouldn't lift a finger to help him." Kakashi said as he began expaining why the three of them failed.

"Naruto." Satella said as she walked over towards him. "You think you can do everything on your own. Everything. But you couldn't even keep yourself from being captured. And you, Sasuke.." Satella sighed as she turned to face him.

"You don't want to work with anyone because you think they're just going to get in your way." Sasuke turned his eyes away from her. It seems like he finally understood the hint she gave him before they even started the excersize. "Ninja missions are carried out in squads." Kakashi said, grabbing everyone's attention once more. "Ofcourse, individual skill is important. But teamwork is the most essential part of being in a squad. Every shinobi understands this. If you put yourself before your squad, it could lead to failure, and death." The three Genin bowed their heads in defeat.

"In every mission, your life is on the line." Satella stated as she walked over to a nearby memorial stone. " Have you looked at this stone? The names on it?" She said, as Kakashi joined her.

"These are all ninja that are honored inside our village."

"Then I want name engraved on that stone!" Naruto said happily. Satella smiled sadly at him.

"You don't."

"Why not?!"

"These people are a special kind of hero." Kakashi stated. "These are the names of shinobi that were killed in action." This caused the three Genin to look down in shame. "This is a memorial stone. The names of some of my closest friends are engraved here." Kakashi said, opening up to the group for the first time.

"We're sorry, Kakashi-sensei! Satella-sensei!" Sakura said quietly.

"Very sorry! Believe it!" Naruto added. Kakashi and Satella looked eachother in the eye and silently agreed.

"All right. We're going to give you one last chance." Satella told them. "But we're going to make it much harder on you."

"Thank you, Satella-sensei!" Naruto said happilly. Satella smirked at him.

"Dont thank me just yet." She said as she picked up two of the lunch boxes from behind her. She walked over to the three Genin in front of her an gave both Sasuke and Sakura a lunchbox each. "Eat up and try to gather some strength. However, Naruto doesn't get to eat."

"What?! Why not?!" Naruto yelled out in disbelief. Satella smirked and held out a finger in front of his face.

"It's your punishment for trying to eat by yourself."

"Anyone trying to feed him, will immediatly fail." Kakashi added. "We make the rules. You follow them. Got it?"

* * *

Kakashi and Satella decided to watch the three Genin from a tree up above. Satella hoped she had given team enough of a hint to figure this next excersize out. Luckily, after hearing Naruto's stomach growling, Sasuke decided to feed him. Shortly after that, Sakura began feeding him as well. Satella smiled and turned to face Kakashi.

"Looks like they've finaly figured it out." She said quietly. Kakashi nodded at her after which the two of them jumped down.

"YOU THREE!" Kakashi yelled out, causing the three Genin to scream in surpise.

"You broke the rules!" Satella said. "Any last words before we end your career as ninja?" Naruto swallowed and spoke up.

"You-You said.."

"I said?"

"You said that there were three of us! And thats why.."

"We're all in this squad!" Sasuke added. "And we're all in this together."

"Yeah, that's right! From now on we fight as one!" Sakura said as she held up a fist in front of her.

"You guys.." Kakashi said, as he walked towards them. "You pass."

"Wait, what?" Naruto asked him.

"You. Pass." Satella said, repeating Kakashi's words. Kakashi smiled through his mask and continued.

"You're the first squad I've had that ever succeeded. All of the others simply followed the rules and couldn't think for themselves. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world those who break the rules are scum, that's true. But those who abandon their friends are worse then scum."

"The excersize is over. Everyone passes. Congratulations!" Satella said happilly. Sakura and Naruto cheered in unison. Satella turned to look at Sasuke who simply smiled at her. "Team 7's first mission starts tomorrow. Let's go home."


	3. Chapter 3

Before the Storm

Chapter 3: The First Real Mission

It had been about two weeks since Team 7 began doing missions, and because they were still only Genin, the missions weren't all that exciting. They were mostly D ranked missions ranging from finding a lost cat to helping someone rearange their garden. So it was no surprise to Satella that once they stood in front of the Third Hokage that morning, Naruto started complaining.

"Old man Hokage, I wanna go on a real mission! Something challenging and exciting! Not this little kids stuff." The Hokage raised an eyebrow at him.

"It seems you do not understand the tasks you have been given. Many diffrent kinds of requests come to us every day. These range from babysitting to assassination. These requests are analised and ranked. As untrained Genin you are only given D rank missions until you have proven yourselves." Naruto frowned at this and raised his finger towards the Hokage.

"You always lecture me like you're my grandfather or something. But I'm not a little kid pulling pranks anymore!" Satella had to hold back a chuckle.

"Are you sure about that?" She asked him sarcastically.

"You shut up! I want a real ninja mission!" The Hokage laughed at this and spoke.

"So, Naruto wants to prove to us he is no longer a child? So be it. If you are that determined to prove yourself, than I shall give you your first C rank mission. You shall be bodyguards and escort a person of interest." The entirety of Team 7 was awestruck by this. Did the Hokage really just give them a C rank mission?

"Really?!" Naruto yelled out in surprise. Kakashi and Satella on the other hand looked at eachother in worry.

"Are you sure they can handle this already? These three numbnuts are still pretty green." Kakashi asked.

"It should be no issue. Our person of interest is a visitor from the land of the waves. He has requested an escort back to his hometown. Once there you will guard him until he has completed his task. He will await your arrival at the village's main gate. His name is Tazuna. Good luck."

* * *

Once everyone was packed up and ready to go, they met up with Tazuna. Tazuna was a master bridge builder, who came to the Hidden Leaf village in search of architectural prowess.

"I am going to build a bridge that will change the face of my country forever." He said proudly as he drunk from a bottle of cheap sake. Satella rolled her eyes as the six of them made their way out of the village. No wonder the Hokage assigned this mission to them. This guy was a drunk.

"Yeah!" Naruto suddenly cried out, breaking Satella's train of thought.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Sakura asked him curiously.

"This is my first time out of the village! I can't wait to see what's out there."

"This must be some kind of joke." Tazuna said angrily. "How is a brat like him going to protect me?"

"That little brat is with me." Kakashi said. "And I am a fully fledged Juonin. So is Satella over here.." Kakashi stopped talking as soon as he lost sight of Satella. Satella stopped moving a few seconds ago. She had sensed a presense inside of the forest as soon as they had left the village. At first she brushed it off, but now.. Now it felt like there were more chakra signatures out there.

"Something wrong?" Kakashi asked her.

"Someone's following us." She said quietly, trying to keep Tazuna from hearing her.

"That doesn't make any sense. Isnt this just a simple escort mission?" Sakura asked her.

"Let's keep going for now." Kakashi said. "If they're really after Tazuna, they will make themselves known soon enough."

* * *

"So, Mister Tazuna? You come from the land of the waves, right?" Sakura asked him, clearly trying to distract everyone from the problem at hand.

"What of it?" Tazuna said, clearly annoyed by her question. Satella wondered what kind of a person this Tazuna really was. Something about him just didn't add up.

"Well, aren't there any ninja's in your country?"

"There aren't." Kakashi told her. "But there are ninja's in other hidden village's. Each with diffrent customs and cultures."

"I see." Sakura said quietly.

"Not to worry. There are no ninja battles in a C rank mission." Kakashi told her, after seeing the worried look on her face. Satella remained silent however. While what Kakashi told Sakura was true, she wasn't so sure there wouldn't be a battle this time around.

* * *

After travelling through the land of fire for a few more hours, Satella noted that the presence was still following them around. This was only furthermore confirmed once she saw someone jumping towards them from the corner of her eye. She quickly jumped up to meet the unknown assailant mid air and pinned him down on the ground underneath her. She took a quick look at his headband and frowned. A Hidden Mist shinobi, what were they doing out here?

"What the hell?" Kakashi yelled out, but as soon as he turned around, two other ninja's wrapped him up in chains and pulled him into the forest.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto yelled out as he turned to follow after him, but before he even made it off of the road, the two ninja's came back and launched a chain towards him. Naruto froze, clearly he hadn't expected to be thrown into battle so soon. Luckily for him, Sasuke deflected the chain by trowing a Shuriken in it's path. The two ninja looked up at Sasuke and charged him head on. However before the enemy could reach him, he substituted and kicked them in the back. Satella smirked as she tied up the ninja she captured.

"Well done, Sasuke." She said as she made her way over to him. The two enemy ninja stood back up again with a growl of frustration and turned to attack Tazuna and Sakura. Unfortunatly for them, Kakashi jumped out of the shadows and captured their heads in his arms.

"Hi there." He said with a smirk on his face. Satella shook her head and smiled.

"You sure know how to make an entrance."

"Show off." Sasuke said quietly.

"Sorry about the delay. I had to get rid of those chains." Kakashi told them as he threw the two knocked out ninja on the floor. "I would've been faster if I knew you'd freeze up like that, Naruto." Naruto frowned at him. Satella ignored Kakashi's comment for now and walked over towards the ninja in front of her. As soon as she touched one of them though, they turned into puddles of water. She raised an eyebrow at this and turned to look at the ninja she tied up earlier. He too was gone. Satella stood back up and spoke.

"I can't sense their presence anymore. They're gone." Kakashi nodded and turned to face Tazuna.

"You have some explaining to do. Tell me why three Chunin from the village Hidden in the Mist are out to get you." Tazuna frowned.

"If they were only Chunin, why didn't you take care of them sooner?"

"If I had done that, then we wouldn't have found out who their intended target was. Now, tell me why they were after you." Tazuna remained silent, but Satella could easily tell why he tried to hide the reality of the mission from them.

"It's about money, isn't it?" She asked him. Tazuna turned his head to look at her. "When you put in your request with the village, you asked for standard protection. If you had told the Hokage you were being hunted down by ninja, he would've turned this into a B rank mission or higher. Increasing our fee by twice the amount." Tazuna frowned at her and nodded.

"I see." Kakashi said. "The task given to us was to escort you to your destination and guard you while you build your bridge. What we are dealing with now is clearly beyond the scope of this mission. Obviously you have your reasons but lying to us is inexcuseable." Tazuna looked away from Kakashi, clearly worried about what was going to happen next.

"We are only Genin. This mission is way too advanced for our skillset." Sakura told Tazuna as she helped him stand back up. Kakashi nodded and spoke up again.

"I think it's best if we return to the village."

"No way!" Naruto yelled out in anger. "I worked so hard to get here! There's no way I'm going to back down from this mission." Satella turned to look at him. Naruto sure seemed determined to finish this mission. "Don't worry, Mister Tazuna! I will help you get back home!"


	4. Chapter 4

Berore the Storm

Chapter 4: Zabuza Momochi

After reaching the decision to help Tazuna out after all, Team 7 continued on it's journey towards the land of the waves. Once the six of them had reached the half way point, they had to resort to traveling by boat. The group heavily relied on Satella for directions as the mist grew thicker and thicker the closer they got to their destination.

"Over there. That's the bridge I'm working on." Tazuna said once they passed a large unfinished structure.

"Wow! It's huge!" Naruto yelled out in surprise. Sakura quickly covered his mouth and spoke.

"Quiet! We dont want the enemy to hear us." Naruto nodded and silently apologized. Satella frowned and turned to Tazuna.

"Mister Tazuna, it's about time for you to tell us who's after you."

"If you don't, I'll end the mission right here." Kakashi added. Tazuna sighed at this and spoke.

"His name is Gato. He is a very short man who casts a large and deadly shadow. One of the wealthiest man in the world." Satella raised an eyebrow at him.

"Gato? Isn't he just a buisnessman?"

"He is. But he also sells drugs and contraband using ninja to enforce his methods. He came to the land of the waves a little over a year ago. He has held control over who ferries in and out of the country ever since. The only thing he fears is a connection to the mainland. Which is why he is after me."

"So that means those guys we fought back in the forest were working for Gato." Sasuke stated.

"That's right. The reason I kept this from you is because the land of waves has become very poor over the last year. The populace are the ones paying for the completion of the bridge. Simple, hard working people. All of the nobles are on Gato's payroll by now." Satella crossed her arms and spoke.

"Well then, aren't you happy Naruto vouched for you?"

* * *

Once Team 7 had reached the shore, the mist seemed to disipate almost immediatly. The land was a little run down, but the surrounding area was quite beautiful. Satella wasnt able to enjoy much of it though. She was too busy keeping an eye out for potential attackers. Even though they had reached the land of the waves, the journey wasn't over yet. Tazuna's home lay further inward, beyond the majorty of the forest. On the way there, it became clear that Satella wasn't the only one worried. Naruto became so overcome with paranoia he nearly killed a white rabbit. Which was odd to say the least. White rabbit's usually didn't make an appearance until winter. Satella turned to face Kakashi who nodded back at her. They were being watched. Satella clossed her eyes and focussed all of her energy into her sensory abilities.

"Look out!" She yelled as a huge cleaver came flying their way. As soon as it hit a nearby tree, a shirtless shinobi jumped on top of it. Kakashi widened his eyes and spoke.

"Well, well. If it isn't Zabuza Momochi."

"You know this guy?" Naruto asked him quietly. It seems he was still a little shaken up about from before.

"Yes. He is a rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist."

"Whoever he is, I can take him!" Naruto yelled out, after which he began running towards Zabuza. Satella stopped him almost instantaniously.

"No, you cannot." She said sternly.

"This guy is in a whole other league." Kakashi added. Zabuza smirked at him and spoke.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan. Am I right? Together with a Senju no less." Satella frowned at this. How come he knew about both her heritage and Kakashi's Sharingan?

"Ah, so you know? I guess it doesn't make sense hiding it anymore then." Kakashi told him as he moved his headband out of the way.

"Hand over the old man." Zabuza demanded. Satella frowned and turned to address the Genin behind her. "Protect Tazuna at all costs. This man is out of your league. Leave him to us." Sakura nodded and instantly moved in front of Tazuna. Naruto frowned and took out his both of kunai's and held them out in fron of him. Sasuke however seemed to have a look of genuine panic in his eyes. Satellla gave him an apologetic smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. She made a mental note to explain the orgin of Kakashi's Sharingan to him later on.

"I guess I will have to take on the both of you then. No matter." Zabuza smirked and activated one of his jutsu's. Within seconds, a thick fog surrounded them, making it impossible to see through to the naked eye. Luckily for the Team 7, this was a non issue for both Kakashi's Sharingan and Satella's sensory abilities.

"I know you can still track my movements. The both of you are described thorougly in the Hidden Mist's bingo book." Zabuza stated. He probably used the mist to get rid of the Genin behind them. Satella frowned and spoke up.

"Enough talking. If you are so confident, then why dont you come at us while we're still young?" Zabuza laughed at her words and jumped down from the tree taking his sword with him. As soon as he did, the mist around them grew thicker and thicker. The only way Satella was able to track him now was through her senses. She couldn't even see anyone anymore. Satella closed her eyes and focussed on Zabuza's chakra. It was jumping all over the place! That can only mean one thing.. Satella smirked and jumped backwards. She threw ninja stars mid air and heard them slicing through the clones around her. Everywhere, except for one. She turned on her heels and held out a kunai to the left of her. As soon as she did, the mist around her dissipated. In front of her stood Zabuza holding his knife out in front of Kakashi. Zabuza grunted in amusement and quickly twirled around, in an attempt to slice through both Satella and Kakashi. But to his dismay, the both of them disapeared into thin air.

"Battle of the clones, eh?" Kakashi said as he jumped down from above. Zabuza jumped up to meet him, and the two of them disapeared once again. This gave Satella the oppertunity to look for Zabuza's origional body. She jumped up onto a tree branch to the left of them and meditated. It took her a little while to sort out which of Zabuza's chakra signatures was the origional one, but once she did, she took a Shuriken from her backpack and jumped down towards the group of Genin below her. It was going to be a long shot, but she had a plan.

* * *

Both Sasuke and Naruto listened intently as Satella explained the plan to them.

"Do you think you can handle it?" She asked them reluctantly. Sasuke smirked at her and nodded.

"Believe it!" Naruto said as he instantly summoned a legion of shadow clones around them. This quickly caught Zabuza's attention, causing him to send a water clone their way. The clone jumped in between the shadow clones, looking for the real Naruto. This distracted him long enough for Satella to throw a Shuriken towards his real body near the lake. As soon as she did, Zabuza caught it. Unfortunatly for him, Sasuke threw a Shuriken of his own immediatly after Satella did. Zabuza barely managed to dodge it, but as soon as he did, the Shuriken behind him turned into Naruto.

"Eat this!" Naruto yelled out as he threw a Kunai into Zabuza's shoulder, forcing him to movr away and break both of his technique's.

"Clever little brat." Zabuza said angrily as he removed the kunai from his shoulderblade. The battle wasn't over yet though. As soon as the Mist dissapeared Kakashi summoned water clones of his own and charged Zabuza head on. Zabuza dodged most of their attacks and jumped backwards until he reached land.

"How dare you use my own jutsu against me!" Zabuza yelled out in frustration. He pulled out his sword and turned to attack Tazuna again, but before he could even get close him, 2 small needles hit him in the back of his neck, knocking him out instantly.

"What the..?" Kakashi said turning to face the source of the needles. Behind them stood a young man wearing an old fashioned tracker mask. Satella stood behind him, holding a kunai to his throat.

"You're quick, I'll give you that much." She said as the Shinobi turned to face her. "You should be grateful. I just saved your lives." Satella ignored the shinobi and turned to face Kakashi who was checking Zabuza's neck for a heartbeat.

"No vital signs. He's dead." Satella nodded and slowly lowered her kunai from the shinobi's throat. "Explain yourself."

"I am a tracker ninja from the Hidden Mist village. I have been after Zabuza for a very long time." Satella raised an eyebrow at him. From his size and stature, Satella believed him to be no older than Sasuke. Something about him didn't quite add up.

"Why did you kill him?! Who do you think you are?" Naruto yelled out all of the sudden.

"Calm down, Naruto." Kakashi said. "He is not our enemy."

"That's not the point. Zabuza was huge and he took him out with a single blow. How am I supposed to accept that?!"

"It happens. In this world there are people who are both younger than you, and stronger than me." Naruto looked down at his feet in shame. Meanwhile the tracker ninja teleported towards Zabuza's body and lifted him up on his shoulder.

"I apologize but I must take care of the body. There are many secrets within that must never come out. Farewell." With that, he was gone. Satella sighed and turned towards the rest of Team 7. "

Atleast that's over." Sakura said quietly. Kakashi nodded and spoke up.

"While the battle may be over, we still have a mission to complete. Tazuna hasn't completed the bridge yet." Tazuna chuckled.

"Sorry for causing you so much trouble. You can rest at my house once we reach the village."

"All right." Kakashi said, turning to walk away from the battle site before suddenly collapsing on the floor.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled out. "What's going on?" Satella sighed and knelt down next to Kakashi with a sad smile on her face.

"Don't worry, he simply passed out. The Sharingan places a heavy toll on the users body. He's exhausted. How far from here is your home located, Tazuna?"

"Not far. We're only a few miles away." Satella nodded and pulled Kakashi up on her back.

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?" Sakura asked her.

"Positive. Let's go."


	5. Chapter 5

Before the Storm

Chapter 5: Battle on the Bridge

It took about 3 days for Kakashi to fully recover from the overuse of his Sharingan. During that time, Satella thaught the tree Genin more about chakra control. The objective was to climb to the top of a tree using only their feet. Chakra control happened to be one of the things Sakura excelled at. She aced the training within a few hours, while it took both Sasuke and Naruto over a day to master. Once they found their way back to Tazuna's home, Kakashi told them he had recovered enough to continue their mission. In the morning they would depart towards the bridge once more. Team 7 seemed to be quite excited to finally finish their mission. It was there for no surprise everyone was ready to go at sunrise. Once they had finally reached the bridge, Tazuna started working on the final touches. Satella thought the first few hours were quite uneventful, but not soon after thinking that, two new chakra signatures arrived.

"Kakashi, something's wrong." Satella said, sensing the two signatures growing stronger by the second. "Could it be..?" Kakashi nodded.

"Without a doubt." As soon as he said that, a thick fog slowly began to suround, them.

"What's happening Kakashi-sensei? Satella-sensei?" Sakura asked them while Sasuke took out his kunai knives.

"I knew he was still alive." Kakashi said quietly.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." A voice hidden in the mist told them. Satella instantly recognised his voice. She turned around and saw Zabuza leaning on his sword behind them.

"Back for round two, I see?" Satella said. Zabuza smirked.

"If you can handle it. I see you've still got those brats with you. That one over there is still trembling from our last battle." He said, motioning towards Sasuke. Sasuke smirked and spoke.

"I'm trembling with excitement." He said, jumping up into the air as he threw his kunai towards Zabuza. Zabuza instantly turned into water and disappeared.

"Another clone? You never change." Kakashi stated.

"It seems the brat has been training. You might just have a rival, Haku." Zabuza said as both he and the tracker ninja from before walked up to meet them.

"So it would seem."

* * *

"So tell me, Zabuza, what purpose did that little act serve?" Satella asked him, not expecting an answer.

"Big phony." Sasuke added. Tazuna raised an eyebrow at us and spoke.

"So, I guess all that about being a tracker ninja was just a bunch of bull." Kakashi nodded.

"The two of them seem pretty close to me. I bet they've been pulling scams like that for a long time." Zabuza smirked, staying unresponsive.

"What's with that mask? Who do you think you're fooling?" Sasuke said taking a few steps forward towards this "Haku". "I'm taking him out."

"Wait just a second, big boy." Satella said, calling him back. "Don't go too hard too soon. We dont know what we're up against yet." Sakura chuckled.

"Oh Sensei! I'm sure Sasuke can handle it." At that both Kakashi and Satella let out a sigh. This girl had no brain when it came to Sasuke.

"Let's test out that theory, shall we?" Haku said, vanishing into thin air soon after.

"What's this?" Sasuke said, turning his head all around him trying to find his opponent. Satella had no issue finding him though, and met with Haku mid way. Kunai met Senbon, and Satella instantly knew there was more to this boy then he was letting on. "Not bad." Haku said, jumping backwards. "We want the bridge builder, not you. If you back down, we wont have to kill you."

"Save it." Sasuke yelled out, instantly charging Haku, who easily blocked him.

"You're making a mistake. I have the advantage here."

"Which is?"

"First, we're surounded by water. Second, you only have one free hand to defend yourself with." Sasuke smirked at this.

"You're forgetting one thing."

"Oh? What's that?"

"He's not alone." Satella said as she appeared behind Haku, instantly holding a kunai to his throat. Haku smirked and started waving jutsu signs with one hand, after which he disapeared into the water below him.

"Secret jutsu, crystal ice mirrors." Satella and Sasuke turned their backs to one and another and soon found themselves surounded by ice mirrors. What's worse was that Satella couldn't sense Haku's precise location either.

"His chakra is all around us." She told Sasuke.

"I guess we'll have to find him the old fashioned way then." He said, throwing kunai's towards all of the mirrors around them. Unfortunatly, this did nothing. Soon after, Haku's image appeared in the mirror in front of them.

"I'm sorry it's come to this." With that said he started firing hundreds of senbon's towards Satella and Sasuke. Satella was able to dodge many of them, meanwhile trying to track Haku's true location.

"Damnit, he's too fast." She said, turning around to look at Sasuke. He was having a real tough time, and Satella began to dread the outlook of this fight. Suddenly though, Haku was thrown out of his mirror from the outside in. On top of him, sat the leaf's number one knucklehead ninja.

"Naruto Uzumaki has arrived!"

"Intresting. You've found out this jutsu's weakness." Haku said. "My Crystal mirror jutsu us subseptible to outside force. Unfortunatly for you, you're stuck inside the jutsu now as well."

"And you're stuck beneath me." Haku chuckled at this.

"You forget, we're still surounded by water." With that, he dissappeared back into the mirrors.

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled out in panic.

"Prepare yourself!" Satella said, standing in front of the two boys in an attempt to save them from brunt of the attacks.

"What's going on?! Why is this masked guy helping Zabuza?" Naruto asked her.

"They're in league with each other." Sasuke told him. "Now focus."

"What's he going to do?"

"Oh, you'll see." Haku said as he appeared in the mirror in front of them. Haku's attacks were relentless however one thing didn't add up. All of his attacks only cause superficial damage. He never attacked with the intent to kill. Satella frowned and fell down on one knee. What was up with this guy?

"Sensei!" Naruto yelled out, noticing Satella's growing fatigue.

"Naruto, I have an idea! Get down!" Sasuke told him. "Fireball jutsu!" With that Sasuke fired his jutsu towards the mirrors around them. Unfortunatly, this attack did nothing.

"You'll need alot more heat to melt these mirrors." Haku said.

"Damn it. We need to figure out who the real one is!" Naruto yelled out in frustration.

"You can look all you want, you'll never uncover this jutsu's secrets." Haku told him.

"He's right, Naruto." Satella said. "His chakra resides in every single mirror."

"Then I'll just have to hit them all!" With that said, Naruto used his shadow clone jutsu and moved to attack all mirrors. Unfortunately, Haku easily dealt with the clones. Haku chuckled.

"Allow me to reveal one of this jutsu's secrets. These mirrors only reflect me, there are no clones involved."

"That means he must be moving in between the mirrors in hyperspeed." Sasuke concluded.

"Correct." Satella frowned. If only Kakashi was in there instead of her. His Sharingan would've easily been able to detect Haku's movements.

"Then how do we stop him?" Naruto asked them. Satella frowned and stood up.

"We can't. This is a kekei genkai. No one but the user can end this jutsu."

"Well, I'm not giving up! I have a dream and he's not keeping me from it."

"Your bravery is to be commended. But it makes no diffrence in the end." Haku said, sounding a bit sad. "I don't want to kill, but you've given me no choice." With that, Haku began attacking them once more. Satella did her best to defend the boys against Haku's attacks, but pretty soon noticed fatigue creeping in. Nevertheless she refused to back down.

"Satella! Stop it! That's enough!" Sasuke yelled out in rage. Satella felt his chakra spike, and when she turned to look at him, her eyes widened. Sasuke looked up in her with a mixture of rage and pain in his eyes. His red eyes. "Sharingan?" She whispered to herself.

"Stop hurting her!" Sasuke yelled out, jumping up, cutting Haku's mask mid air. "I can see your moves. It's over!" With that said, he used another one of his fireball jutsu's, hitting Haku's left legg as soon as he jumped out of the mirror.

"You read my movements? That's impossible!" Haku said as soon as he jumped back into a mirror.

"Naruto, can you use your shadow clones again?" Sasuke asked him.

"Believe it!" With that, Naruto used his jutsu once more, distracting Haku long enough for Sasuke to attack. As soon as the boys used their combo, Satella took the oppertunity to escape the mirror jutsu.

"It worked!" Sasuke said with a smirk on his face. Satella turned to look at him and locked eyes. The two of them instantly nodded and attacked the same mirror from both sides, shattering it into a million pieces. Unfortunately, the force of the jutsu breaking knocked the both of them out.

* * *

It took a few minutes for Satella to regain her senses but as soon as she did, she felt a huge power spike coming from someone on the bridge. An evil power, though she was sure it was neither Haku nor Zabuza. Satella slowly opened her eyes and tried to sit up. Standing next to Sasuke's unconscious body, stood Naruto. His body engulfed in a flaming orange chakra. Was this.. It couldn't be..?

"You'll pay for this!" Naruto yelled out in a fit of rage, and instantly charged Haku head on. Satella took this oppertunity to rush over towards Sasuke and take him away from the battlefield. If only she had had enough chakra left to heal him..

"Sensei!" Sakura called out from behind her. "Naruto.. What's happening to him? What happened to Sasuke?" Satella simply stared at the battle in front of her and shook her head to bring her back to reality.

"Kakashi! The seal!" She yelled out, knowing the third hokage gave him the sealing scroll in case something like this would happen. Kakashi nodded and spoke.

"I'm sorry to cut our battle short, Zabuza. But I have other matters to attend to." With that, Kakashi fired up a Chidori, and charged Zabuza head on. Surprisingly, Haku jumped in front of Kakashi's attack. Kakashi's eyes widened. "What..? Why would you..?" He whispered to himself, slowly stepping back from Haku's body.

"It seems our battle isn't over quite yet, Kakashi." Zabuza said triumphantly, unsheating his blade and holding it up towards Kakashi.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Naruto yelled out in anger.

"Stay out of this Naruto! This is my battle." Kakashi told him, charging Zabuza head on and disabling both of his arms in an instant with his kunai's. After doing so, he grabbed Zabuza by the shoulders and pinned him down.

"Look at you. You have no idea what real strength is." Kakashi said mockingly. Zabuza growled in anger and pushed Kakashi off of his back. Before he could retaliate though, someone else turned up to the scene. Satella turned her head to see where these new chakra signatures came from. They were weak, but they were many.

"Kakashi." Satella grabbed his attention and pointed out the crowd gathering near the end of the bridge. Now that she could see them, it was obvious who they were.

"Gato?" Tazuna said in surprise. "Well, well, well. Look at how things turned out." Gato said as he began taking steps forward towards Haku's corpse. "Did quite a job on you, didn't they, Zabuza? I must say, I'm disappointed." Zabuza raised an eyebrow at Gato and turned to face him.

"Gato? Why are you here? And who are those thugs you brought with you?" Gato chuckled and spoke up.

"Well you see, there has been a change of plans. According to the new plan, you die right here on this bridge, Zabuza. You see, you're too expensive. So I've decided that instead of paying you, I'm going to take you off the payroll." Zabuza smirked at this, and turned to face Kakashi.

"It seems our battle has come to an end after all. Since I am no longer on Gato's payroll, Tazuna is safe. We have no quarrel." Kakashi smirked back at him and spoke.

"I suppose so."

"That reminds me." Gato said as he reached Haku's corpse. "This punk nearly broke my arm." With that said, he kicked Haku in the head.

"Stop that right now!" Naruto yelled out in anger and ran towards Gato. Kakashi stopped him before he could get passed him though.

"What about you, Zabuza? Are you just gonna let him do that?!" Zabuza grunted.

"What diffrence does it make? Haku is dead."

"You and Haku were together for years! Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Haku has served his purpose. He means nothing to me now. That's the way of the Shinobi."

"If you mean that, then you are an even bigger rat than I thought." Kakashi pulled Naruto back again and spoke.

"That's enough, Naruto. He is not our enemy." Naruto shook off Kakashi hand in anger and spoke.

"Shut up! As far as I'm concerned, he's enemy number one!" Naruto stepped up towards Zabuza and pointed his finger towards him. "You ungrateful swine! Haku lived for you! You were the most important thing in the world to him! And he meant nothing to you? He sacrificed everything for you! He lived to fulfill your dreams, never even wanting a dream of his own." Naruto dropped his hand and wiped his now tearstained face. "Man, that is so wrong. So wrong!"

"You talk too much, kid." Zabuza said quietly. "Your words cut deep, deeper than any steel." He said, bowing his head down in shame. Satella was sure that at this point Zabuza was crying too. "Haku was always too soft and too kind. Feeling too much to be a true shinobi. And because of him, I now feel that too." Zabuza tore off the bandages around his mouth and smirked. "It's time to end this." Zabuza turned to look at Naruto and spoke. "Boy, lend me your kunai!"

Naruto nodded and threw his kunai towards Zabuza, who caught it in his mouth. "For Haku." Zabuza said, afterwards instantly charging the crowd in front of him. Zabuza, even with both of his arms taken out, sliced through the crowd of thugs like they were nothing. And eventually cut down Gato himself. After Gato and his thugs had fallen, Zabuza slowly made his way back towards Haku's corpse, collapsing half way. Satella sighed and gently lay Sasuke down on the floor. After this, she made her way towards Haku and picked him up.

"What are you..?" Naruto asked her, but Kakashi stopped him again. Silently thanking Kakashi, Satella began making her way towards Zabuza. As soon as she reached him, she lay Haku's corpse next to him and took a few steps back.

"No one should have to die alone." She said, turning back around towards her friends.

"Thank you.." She heard Zabuza say, so quietly she almost missed it. The battle was finally over. It was time to go.

* * *

After wrapping up construction on the bridge, team 7 was invited by Tazuna to join him for the bridge's grand opening. Before that though, both Satella and Kakashi decided to bury Zabuza and Haku on a cliff overlooking the village nearby. Though their actions may have been wrong, in the end they weren't evil people. After paying their respects, team 7 left the burial site and joined the other villagers at the bridge. Tazuna proudly stood in front of the completed bridge and spoke up as soon as he located team 7.

"We could never have finished the bridge without you. I can't tell you how much you'll be missed." Both Inari and his mother stood behind Tazuna smiling.

"No worries. We'll come back to visit real soon." Naruto said happilly.

"Promise?" Inari asked him.

"Believe it!"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello everyone. After receiving some feedback, I went back to the previous chapters and improved their lay out. Hopefully this improved their readability somewhat. Also, I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

Before the Storm

Chapter 6:

The Chunin Exams - Part 1

It had been a few days since Team 7 returned from their mission in the land of the waves, and ever since then Team 7 was back to their normal routine of completing D rank missions. During one of their less important missions in the village, Satella saw the Hokage's messenger hawk flying above them. This meant there was going to be a Jonin meet up, and they had to be there as soon as possible. Satella turned to Kakashi who nodded while preparing to wrap things up for the day. After the three Genin left, both of the Jonin left for the Hokage's tower. Once they arrived, they were led to the Hokage's office where all of the other available Jonin awaited them. It seemed the two of them had arrived last. Satella walked over to greet Kurenai and Asuma, after which the Hokage began his speech.

"Welcome. I have gathered you here today to discuss our candidates for the Chunin examinations. To begin, will those in charge of the rookie Genin step forwards?" With that Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi stepped forward. "What do you say? Do any of your Genin qualify for these exams?" As the first out of the three, Kakashi stepped forward.

"I am Kakashi Hatake, together with my partner Satella Senju, I lead squad 7. Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno.. I recommend all three Genin for these exams." Satella was shocked. Did he really think they were ready so soon? While her own Chunin exams had been quite a long time ago, she remembered them being extremely tough on newcomers.

"I, Kurenai, also recommend all three of my students for these exams.

Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame." Satella raised an eyebrow at this. Kurenai seemed to think her students were ready as well. Intrestingly enough, so did Asuma.

"Ino Yamaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. I recommend my three students for these exams as well." The Hokage smirked at the Jonin in front of him. Almost like he expected this to happen.

"I see. I understand. I shall take your reccomendations under advisement. Feel free inform your students about the Chunin exams, and let me know what they think."

* * *

Though Team 7 was still pretty fresh from the academy, Kakashi seemed to be confident enough they would be able to succeed. Satella agreed, albeit reluctantly. If anything these exams would teach them some humility. She even signed herself up to be a proctor to keep an eye on things from within. All that was left now was to tell Team 7 itself about their entry. Satella decided to have the team meet up at noon, and headed out to find her students. Once she located two of them, she noticed that they were having a little quarrel with three Genin from the hidden sand. Satella decided to wait and see how the interaction would turn out. She jumped up onto a nearby tree and hid herself from view. This was Team 7's first time meeting up with a team from a diffrent village, she wondered how they would react.

Naruto, Sakura and Konohamaru, the third's grandson, were standing in the middle of an alleyway. In front of them stood two sand Shinobi. A boy with purple face paint and a girl sporting blonde pigtails with a large fan on her back.

"You need something, kid?" The boy asked Konohamaru who was sitting on the floor in front of him. He ran into him as soon as Satella arrived on the scene. Konohamaru crawled backwards, clearly intimidated by the boy in front of him.

"Leave him alone!" Naruto yelled out, holding up his fists.

"Ignore him, Kankuro. If you don't, we'll pay for it later." The blonde girl told her comrade. Pay for it? Satella wondered wat she meant by that.

"Sorry! This whole thing was my fault." Sakura said, smiling uncomfortably. "I was chasing them earlier." Kankuro grunted and spoke.

"We have a few minutes before he gets here." He? Who's he? "This village is full of whimps. Let's have some fun with them."

"You take that back right now!" Naruto yelled out.

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sakura told him, pulling him back towards her.

"You guys are so annoying." Kankuro said with a smirk on his face.

Satella sighed. This interaction wasn't going anyway. Not only that, there were other chakra signatures heading their way. One of them was Sasuke. He jumped up onto a three on the opposite end of the alley and quickly spoke up.

"You two sure are a long way from home." He said, arms crossed as he leaned his back against the tree.

"Oh, great. Another one." Kakuro said, sighing as he turned to his friend.

"Hey, I'm not involved in this." She said, holding up her hands.

"Whatever." Kankuro said, turning back to face Sasuke. "Hey, punk! Get down here!" Before anyone could respond though, the second chakra signature joined Sasuke in the tree. He was hanging upside down on a branch to the left of Sasuke using only his feet. This boy was diffrent from the other two. He had flaming red short hair, and held a huge sand gourd on his back. He wasn't wearing a headband representing the village he came from, and looked at the other Genin like he was going to kill them. Not to mention the fact that his chakra felt extremely unnerving.

"Kankuro, cut it out." He told the other boy. No.. It was more like an order. "You're an embarisment to our village."

Kankuro took a step back and looked up at the boy in the tree. "Eh.. Hey Gaara.." He said quietly. Both Kankuro and his friend were genuinly frightened by this Gaara's appearance.

"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?" Gaara asked his comrade.

"I know.. I was just having a little fun." Kankuro told him. Satella frowned and jumped down from her spot the tree.

"Gaara is right. These people are our allies, you should treat them accordingly." Satella told her students, gaining a frown from Naruto in return. Gaara turned to look at her and stared at her with a blank expression in his eyes, before speaking up again.

"I'm sorry for any trouble he caused." Satella crossed her arms and smiled.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like these guys were acting any better." Naruto stepped forwards in protest, but Sakura put a hand on his mouth and shut him up before he could say a word. Meanwhile Gaara jumped down from the tree himself and landed only a few feet away from Satella.

"I am curious about you." Gaara told Satella, who tried her best to keep her cool around his intimidating aura.

"Is that so?" She said, raising an eyebrow as as she spoke. Gaara continued to stare at her for a few more seconds before speaking up.

"Kankuro, Temari, we're leaving."

"R-right!" Kankuro said, following after the red head like a puppy dog. Satella examined the party of three one last time and watched as they left the alleyway.

"What was that all about Sensei? Those rats were bothering us, not the other way around." Sakura growled in anger and smacked Naruto on the head.

"Shut up, Naruto."

"Whatever they were doing, they are our guests. And you provoked them quite a bit yourself." Satella told him. "I thought you had better manners than that."

Naruto frowned and stared at the floor. Meanwhile Sasuke had jumped down from the tree above them and spoke up.

"I heard you were looking for us, Satella." He asked her.

"I was. I came to tell you we have a meeting tommorrow at noon. Same place as always. Don't be late."

* * *

"I can't believe he's late again." Sakura said, whining as she walked circles around the bridge. Satella sat on a nearby railing, Sasuke standing to the left of her. On the opposite end of the bridge sat Naruto. Both he and Sasuke had been in a mood ever since their last mission. Satella sighed. This rivalry between them wasn't a good sign. Boys will be boys..

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." Kakashi said as he jumped up on a wooden bar above them. "I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life." Satella face palmed. This lazy bum was going to be the death of her someday.

"Whatever, Sensei! Just spit it out! Why have you called us here? Do we have another mission?" Naruto asked him enthusiastically. Ever since they had returned home, Naruto had been bugging them constantly about being handed more difficult missions.

"Not this time." Satella said, chuckling at Naruto's sad face. Kakashi cleared his throat and spoke up.

"I know this may be a bit sudden, but we've reccomended you for the Chunin exams." Kakashi rifled through he pockets and pulled out three sheets of paper. "These are the application forms."

"Before you sign up.." Satella added. "..signing up for the Chunin exams is voluntaty. If you don't feel ready, you can wait until next year."

"All right!" Naruto yelled out in excitement. "This is awesome!" Satella chuckled and continued.

"Whoever wants to enter the exams, sign the application and deliver it at room 301 at the academy. The deadline is five days from now at 3 PM."

* * *

Today was the day. Satella was waiting in room 301 to accept every willing Genin's application to the Chunin exams. There were all sorts of people signing up this year, from six diffrent village's. Their ages ranged from children to adult ninja. None of them seemed to be particulary strong so far, except for Gaara's squad that is.

Might Guy's team showed promise, even though they were a little weird. Team Guy consists of Tenten, a young girl that specialised in ninja weapons. Neiji Hyuuga, who uses his Byakugan to attack certain chakra points in his opponents body. And Rock Lee, a boy with a bowl haircut that idolised Guy with a fiery passion. His was a special case. Rock Lee was the only student in the history of the acedemy to graduate knowing only Taijutsu. Might Guy kept his team from entering the Chunin exams last year, which Satella thought was a smart move. If only her own team had a little more training..

Speaking of Team 7, all three of them eventually entered the room. Satella smiled. Atleast they were confident in their abilities.

"Glad to see all of you decided to sign up." She said once the three of them arrived at her desk.

"What do you mean, Sensei?" Sakura asked, seeing the hidden meaning in her words.

"Well, the Chunin exams only allows participation in groups of three. If one of you had decided to back out, the other two wouldn't have been able to enter."

"You're serious? Why didn't you say so before?" Sasuke asked her angrily.

"Because we wanted you to sign up for yourself, not because the others forced you to do so." Naruto smirked.

"I would never pass up on an oppertunity like this! Believe it!" Satella smiled.

"Of course you wouldn't. Now, since you've officially signed up, you may continue onwards to the next room. All of the other Genin are awaiting furthe instructions there. Good luck!"


	7. Chapter 7

Before the Storm

Chapter 7: The Chunin Exams - Part 2

The Chunin exams consists out of three separate parts. First comes the written exam. Where the Genin have to answer several questions that are often way above their skill level. The trick of this exam is to cheat without anyone noticing you are cheating. It's either that or simply answer the questions yourself if your smart enough. Because of this, Satella was surprised to see that all three members of team 7 had actually made it though. She smirked and walked into the classroom as soon as Ibiki Morino, the first proctor, called for her. She was going to be supervising the second part of the Chunin exams.

"All right, boys and girls, listen up. I'll be your next proctor. Your next test will be held at the forest of death. I will be expecting you at daybreak near the main gate. You guys have had it easy so far, so prepare yourselves well."

* * *

The next morning, every one slowly gathered in front of the gate near the forest of death. The forest was walled off for good reason. Everything inside of it would test every single survival skill you had. Not to mention the competition you had out there. It took a little while for all of the contestants to gather, but once they did Satella examined the group of Genin in front of her. First, you had the Konoha Genin she was familiar with. Next up, the three sand siblings. Satella rested her eyes on Gaara for a moment. She wondered what caused his chakra to feel so.. ominous. Speaking of ominous chakra's, there was one other signature in the crowd that had disturbed her. A woman from the village hidden in the grass. She was wearing a strawhat, a kaki dress, and a huge purple bow around her waist. Her appearance was quite normal compared to some of the other Genin, but there was just something about her that didn't feel right. Satella shook her head and straightened her back. She made a mental note of everyone there, and began her speech.

"Welcome to the second phase of the Chunin exams. Behind me lies the battle and training zone known as the forest of death. Soon enough, you're going to find out why." Satella's words cause some of the Genin to look worried. Especially Sakura. While she may have made it this far, Satella worried Sakura simply wasn't strong enough to make it. Hopefully Naruto and Sasuke could help her get through this.

"Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all." Satella reached into the bag leaning against the fence and pulled out a stack of papers. "It's just a standard consent form. Before we go any further with the exams, you're going to have to read them over and decide weither you want to sign them or not."

"What are those for?" Naruto asked her.

"There are certain risks of death in this test. If you didn't sign these papers, it would be my responsibility if you died. But I'm sure there is nothing out there you guys can't handle." Satella chuckled as she spoke, trying to lighten the mood. While this was a serious endeavour, Satella simply didn't want the Genin to go in worried. Satella walked up to Naruto and asked him to pass the forms around. She also handed him a small bag filled with pencils.

"Now, I'll be explaining the rest. The first thing you need to know is that this exam will test all of your survival skills. Next, I will only allow you one look on a map of the terain once you turn in your consent form. The goal of this excersize is to reach the tower in the middle of the forest. But.. there's a catch. In order for your team to enter the tower, you're going to need two scrolls." Satella reached into the large bag again and pulled out a black scroll and a white scroll. "These are the heaven scroll and the earth scroll. Each team will be given only one of them. This excersize is an anything goes battle between Genin. All together, twenty-six teams will be taking part in this test. Meaning there are only 13 sets of scrolls available." This upset some of the Genin. Clearly they didn't expect atleast half of them wouldnt be making it till the end. "

One more thing, the test also has a time limit. You are supposed to finish this test within five days."

"Five days?!" Sakura yelled out, after which Choji spoke up.

"Where are we supposed to get our food?!" Satella chuckled.

"Just look around. There will be plenty of things in the forest to eat. This is a survival test, remember?"

"That may be so.." Kabuto said, Satella recognised him from previous Chunin exams. "..but be careful what you eat out there. There are many poisonous plants and beasts inside the forest."

"Correct. I see your experience has made you wiser." Which is exactly why she wished her team would've waited another year. "This test is designed to be grueling and fearsome. If you're not up to the challenge, you better back out now."

"Can we quit during the test?" One of the grass ninja asked.

"Ofcourse not. You dont just quit in the middle of a battle, do you? There are however some ways for you to be disqualified. First, if you don't make it to the tower with both of these scrolls within five days. Second, if a member of your team is incapacitated and cannot continue or if a member of your team has died. Third, and most importantly, you may never look at the contents of these two scrolls." Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.

"What happeneds if we look anyway?"

"Let me put it this way.. You dont want to find out. There are times as a ninja where you will need to transport secret documents. This rule is implemented to test your integrity. Now, that's everything I have to tell you. Once you've signed the forms, deliver them to my collegues in the booth to the left of me. They will allow you to take a look at the map of the forest, and hand you your teams first scroll. Hide it well, you probably don't want the other Genin to find out which one your team has. Good luck!"

* * *

Once all of the scrolls had been handed out, every team was send out to their designated gate. Satella decided to head over to team 7's gate to send them on their way. At 2 pm, the test would begin. There were only a few minutes left for everyone to prepare, which Satella used to give some last minute advise.

"Be careful out there. Some of the other Genin wont hesistate to kill you, no matter which scroll you hold. Also dont eat any of the amphibians, most of them are poisonous." Naruto smiled at her.

"No worries, sensei! We can handle anything! Believe it!" Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto and turned to face Satella.

"I'll try to keep these two alive. Wouldn't want to fail this test because of Naruto's idiocy."

"What did you just say?!" Naruto yelled out.

"Shut up, Naruto! Your overconfidence might get us killed!" Sakura said as she punched him on the head. Satella smiled awkwardly and scratched her head.

"All right, then. The test will begin shortly. Please try to stay alive." The three Genin nodded and walked up to the gate. Sasuke turned to look at Satella one last time, then turned back to the gate as it opened. The second test had officially begun.


End file.
